Environmentalists eye bills on septic pollution, antibiotics

Megan Brockett / Capital Gazette

Pat McLaine, director of the University of Maryland's community/public health nursing specialty program, speaks in favor of the "Keep Antibiotics Effective Act" at the Maryland Environmental Legislative Summit in Annapolis on Thursday.

Pat McLaine, director of the University of Maryland's community/public health nursing specialty program, speaks in favor of the "Keep Antibiotics Effective Act" at the Maryland Environmental Legislative Summit in Annapolis on Thursday.

Local environmentalists are watching bills aimed at limiting antibiotics for animals and reducing septic pollu

Anne Arundel County environmentalists were among the swarm of people who filed into the Miller Senate Office Building in Annapolis on Thursday to hear legislators and other leaders outline the environmental priorities of the 2017 General Assembly session.

With regular reference to the uncertainty of environmental policy under President Donald Trump, speakers at the 23rd annual Maryland Environmental Legislative Summit said they will push for a ban on fracking in Maryland, the overriding of Gov. Larry Hogan's veto of the Clean Energy Jobs Act and the passage of bills focused on limiting antibiotics for animals and reducing septic pollution.

South Riverkeeper Jesse Iliff said the proposed septic bill would be a step in the right direction for local waterways, including the South River, and other tributaries across the state with septic pollution.

The bill would once again require developers to meet certain standards with the septic systems they install. It would undo Hogan's decision last year to roll back regulations from 2012 that said all new construction must use high-tech systems aimed at reducing water pollution.

Hogan's move allows septic systems without the "best available technology" to be installed on properties that are outside environmentally critical areas. It was meant to address the complaints of developers who said the requirement added thousands of dollars to the cost of building a new home without proof of significant benefits.

But environmentalists say the high-tech septic systems reduce the amount of nitrogen entering the waterways, central to the effort of reducing water pollution.

Lifting the requirement for properties outside critical areas was seen by environmentalists as a step in the wrong direction.

"There's just no reason to backtrack on progress," Iliff said.

Another bill that has the attention of local environmentalists is one that would curb the amount of antibiotics given to healthy livestock animals.

Pat McLaine, director of the University of Maryland's community/public health nursing specialty program and one of the speakers at Thursday's summit, said antibiotics are routinely fed in low doses to farm animals to prevent diseases that can be caused by poor diets or poor living conditions. Supporters of the bill say the practice increases the likelihood of people becoming resistant to medically important antibiotics.

The General Assembly opened its 2017 session Wednesday with the usual pomp and circumstance of hopeful speeches, Maryland-themed clothing and legislators accompanied by family and friends.

“It’s my third session, and every year it feels like the first,” said Del. Sid Saab, a Crownsville Republican,...